-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- American Ted Ligety served notice he will be the man to beat in his favored giant slalom discipline with an emphatic victory in the season opener in Soelden Sunday .

The triple world champion was claiming his third straight win in World Cup giant slalom races and making it a hat-trick at the Austrian venue , matching Austrian legend Hermann Maier .

Ligety , nicknamed ` Ted Shred ' , had left his rivals in tatters last year as he won by an astonishing 2.75 seconds , but this time around he had to settle for a closer margin over second placed Alexis Pinturault of France and home hope Marcel Hirscher .

`` I 'm super psyched to win this today , '' Ligety told the official FIS website after clocking one minute 59.50 seconds for the two legs .

`` It was n't easy conditions on the second run it was dark and bumpy , but any day you win it 's a good day , so I ca n't complain . ''

Pinterault finished 0.79 seconds adrift with Hirscher just over a second slower than Ligety , who won the last two races of the 2012-13 season .

`` I hope to be able to have a season close to what I had last year , '' Ligety added .

`` But repeating what I did last year in giant slalom is going to be difficult and I do n't expect to be winning the races by the same margins . ''

Sunday 's race was the start of the journey to the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year and also marked the return of American favorite Bode Miller .

The 36-year-old has not raced for 18 months but despite an unfavorable starting position he was able to finish in 19th place .

`` My knee feels better than it has since 2001 , '' said Miller .

`` Once I made a decision not to race last year , it took a lot of pressure off and I could focus my recovery . ''

A massive crowd of 15,000 watched the proceedings on the Rettenbach Glacier , with the start lowered due to strong winds .

Downhill world champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway finished joint fourth with France 's Steve Missillier .

Austrian veteran Benni Raich , a two time Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion , dropped back to 13th after being fifth on the first run .

But the main focus was on the 29-year-old Ligety , who was joining Italian superstar Alberto Tomba on the career list for giant slalom podiums , 31 in all , fourth among all skiers .

The FIS World Cup circuit next moves to Levi in Finland for a men 's and women 's slalom on November 16 and 17 .

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Ted Ligety wins World Cup giant slalom at Soelden

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Hat-trick of wins at the venue for 29-year-old American

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Ligety won last two giants slaloms of 2012-13 season

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American Bode Miller returns to competition